We DO work on the half court offense.

[MUCrisco]

I'm sick of this idea that just because we want to push the ball, we don't have a half court offense.  Guess again.  Marquette runs a ton of sets.  We run so many different things that coaches have said, when they scout us, they focus on player's tendencies because we run so much stuff.  In order to run set plays, a team is only successful when they focus a large portion of their practice time on their set plays. 

Marquette is no different than this.  I have observed many Marquette practices and they spend at least an hour of their time on their half court sets.  In fact, when they take a water break, they only take one for 30 secs.  While they are drinking, the coaches draw up a play in order to simulate a timeout in a game.  They come out, put time and a score on the clock, and execute that play.  Even their water breaks are designed to work on their half court offense.

I do not understand this idea that you can only be a running team or a half court offense team.  We want to push the ball because we have dynamic athletes that can score in the open court.  We also have a ton of players that are able to play, so we want to play at a faster pace than our opponent.  While it is true that we can run more on the "little sisters of the poor", we are also able to take opportunities to push the ball against stronger teams, even though there are fewer chances.  Still, if you do not stress the running game, those are lost chances.

Now, there could be a question of whether you want to run or not.  Dick Bennett does not want to run.  Bo Ryan does not emphasize the transition game.  Still, most coaches today want to run and Coach Crean is no different.  In fact, I do not remember the last championship team that does not emphasize their running game.  Billy Donovan, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, and Coach K, all want to run.

So let's stop this nonsense right now.  Just because in a scrimmage, you see our players taking the opportunity to push the ball, does not mean we do not work on our half court game.  That statement couldn't be farther from the truth.  If you do not agree with me, call up the basketball office and go watch a practice.  There is nothing in basketball that states that you either have to be a running team or a half court offense team.

[Murffieus]

Well i'm sure MU does work on its half court offense----and we some things there very well------but if we wouldn't spend all that time on fast break offense that you can't use anyway against the likes of MSU or UW-----we could then use that time developing a postup offense, which has been conspicuously absent. The postup offense we CAN use against the likes of UW & MSU!

[bilsu]

The really good teams put pressure on you offensively and defensively. They push the ball up court on offense, but settle into a half court game, if the shot is not there. You have to take the game to the other team. Besides that, MU does not have good half court players. Ooze is only effective, if he is out running the opposing center. I do not think he has any kind of jump shot. I hoped he would work on a 5 to 10ft jump shot during the summer, but he showed no signs of that during the scrimage. I realy do not understand why they insist on annoucing him as a forward, since he has no forward skills. James is definitely not a half court player. McNeal can basiaclly get to the basket anytime he wants, but is better suited for a full court game. McGuire always had a star he could run plays for to get points in the half court game. Maybe Hayward can be that go to guy. He looked much improved to me last night. Otherwise, we have no offensive power game. Mbakee had a very agressive offensive rebound last night. Instead of taking it back up, he turned it over trying to pass it to Hayward. Hopefully, Crean can teach him to immediately go back up with it.

This is what I saw last night.

Burke looked good in the agility skills, but showed no game during the scrimage.

Trend blocked several shots. Had a chance at an alley oop, but the pass hit the rim. We still have no one on the team that can throw an alley oop pass. Otherwise did not do anything.

Mbakee impressive rebounder and not afraid to mix it up. No sign of an offensive game.

Christopherson was definately a step slow. Played well off Acker or Acker would have blown by him. He has good size and used that to steal one of Aker's passes. I think he knows his limitations and is a smart player. He probalby is the best passer on the team.

Aker started off bad. First two offensive possessions he threw away the ball. He followed that up with a  missed a shot and got called for an off the ball offensive foul. However, his team won both games. He hit threes when he was open. It is hard to appreciate his speed, because he was matched against James. Based only on last night's scrimage, I would start him over James at point.

I was disappointed in James. I saw nothing special out of a player with special talent.

Matthews and McNeal were aggressive. McNeal's shots were not falling. It was fun to be able to watch his drives from the seat I had. You could really see his moves.

Hazel looked like he should be able to play, but so does Burke. Did not show much last night.

Culliban was a disappointment. Looked out of sync. I thought playing with the Venzuala this summer would help him, but it did not seem that it did.

Ooze did not show any improvement. He did not score, but rebounded well.

Fitz seemed to be agressive. Although, he has always struck me as a more aggressive practice player than a game player.

Based on last nights scrimage, my starters would be Akker, McNeal, Matthews, Hayward and Mbakee. Given that Mbakee just showed up on campus, he was truly impressive.

[Schoolyard]

I've come to realize that Crisco knows much more than I do (as well as Murff) so I don't dispute what you say about half court initatives within closed practices etc.

But one of the points earlier was, "Who cares about March?,  we DO need to get ready for Little Sisters of the Poor (Vancouver opposition)".  And to that I say, are you high?.  We should be able to roll out of bed in Sam Worthern's Tux and John Stollenwerk's B&G Allen Edmonds and beat these teams.  Practicing for them is assine.  These games don't matter.  We could lose each by 40 and they wouldn't effect our seed.

We should everyday be preparing for March.  November tourney's are nice, the annual Katz or Davis Dec lovefest article is fun to send to Bucky fans and the Top 10 ranking in January makes a bad Packer more palatable but this is a sport where March rules.  In mind, not preparing for that is nuts.  Crisco I'm not calling you out, just others like Chili and PTM who think we should be preparing for Vancouver's Finest.  The only conditioning they should be doing for Canada is 3ft Beer Bongs of Molson or LaBatt's.

 

[Strokin 3s]

I seem to remember, despite my best efforts to erradicate it from my memory, sitting 7 rows back and watching a certain team with the initials KU fast break another very strong team (read not a little sisters of the poor team) up and down the court back in '03.  Any explanation for that one Murf?

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Is it also possible that the team is just starting to practice and therefor not concentrating on specific plays yet?

I mean, I know this is D1 hoops, but I can't remember a team that I was ever on where we starting working plays right away. We worked on tempo, defense, overall strategy, and to be honest I think the coaches just wanted to watch us play together so they could evaluate strengths and weaknesses (players to improve and some regress over the summer).

Could it be possible that MU really isn't into the playbook yet, but rather concentrating on defense, first and secondary fast breaks and evaluating overall player development?

The practice on Tuesday was just a snap-shot of what they are doing. They could be running 1/2 court plays all day today and we would never know it.

[Murffieus]

strokin------as i say----the only time the break works is when the breaking team has significantly better talent, which Kansas had man for man.

My point is that we're not going to beat GT and Louisville with a fast break----if we're going to beat them this year it will be in the half court game-----we couldn't break against them last year and we won't be able to break against them this year!

So if you can't use the break against teams as talented or more talented----why practice it----when that practice time could be used developing a postup game which we need desperately aand that can be used against the better teams. Had we trained Barro in a postup game the past 3 years and Burke the past 2 years----we'd have a decent postup game today! ----we just never bit the bullet on that!